senko_77

I used to do a ton of fishing for stripes while fishing dams along the rivers here in Georgia. 
 
As annoying as the current is, your definitely fishing the right place.  From my experience, the harder the water is pushing, the closer to the actual dam the fish get.  We call it the "Suck Theory" because when the river is RAGING it seems like every freaking fish will move upstream until they run head first into the dam, like the river is sucking them all up to the dam.  So basically, the harder the current, the closer you want to cast to the actually gates letting the water out.
 
Get used to losing your baits.  It's a part of river fishing and there really isn't much you can do about it.  I've had my best luck using heavier weights on my jigs, like 1/2oz -1 1/2oz.  To save money, I would order bulk, unpainted jigheads online in the weight you want and learn to tie your own bucktail jigs.  It saves a ton of money. 
 
Here are my top 2 baits for the river stripes....
1.  The bucktail jig.  I've had a ton of success using white/pink bucktail with a zoom fluke as a trailer.  I don't want any action with this setup.  Just a nice, streamlined jig gliding through the water.  I like to throw this directly upstream or at a slight angle and let it drift straight back at me.
 
2.  The scrounger head.  I take a 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 (all the long billed versions) and tie bucktail to these as well.  For a trailer I use either a curl tail grub or paddle tail swimbait.  This bait works better for me when I'm throwing across the current.  It puts off a ton of vibration and this is the setup I've caught my bigger stripers on. 
 
Good luck, man.  Nothing like hooking into one of those linesides in heavy current.  Those massive tails of theirs let them have there freakin way with you.
 
PM me If you have any questions about river fishing or if your interested in tying your own stuff, I can point you in the right direction.